But that's the point, isn't it? First tier stars like Kobe, Lebron, Wade etc don't care about stuff like Joe's treatment of players, but they don't really need to.

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This is an honest comparison. Blue collar has now been shipped over-seas. One dollar gets you one penny, without the nastiness of the look-outs trying to eventually obtain a Forest Lawn tombstone.

Wherever they go, there'll be someone waiting and willing to lay down the red carpet for them. They don't need anybody to watch their back. They get max contracts and they don't give a crap about anybody.

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F.S Fitzgerald said what?

Every other player considers many other things besides money. And Joe's treatment of players does get noticed by other players (at least those that aren't too distracted to notice anything from the sound of how awesome they are).

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I hit this one on the second reading. I'll turn this one on-it's-head: both Mr. D and JD thought highly enough of one-another in understanding that that they would not qualify for the position of Rabbi.

I'll try and set aside my personal bias toward this jackass when I submit posts that include him as subject matter this season. I can't promise anything.

Have a nice day everyone.

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He's a quality guy off the court from everything I've heard.

One of my generations most electric players. One of the greatest playoff scorers of all time despite never getting out of the 1st Round. I'd love for him to resurrect his career. Just an amazing natural talent. But not here at this point. The Pistons have made the decision to remain mediocre for another season, for whatever outside reasons. I still have my small hopes for this team for this season but excited I am not. Nothing like hanging in the mid-late lotto for a couple of years. Maybe I'm wrong, I hope so. We may very well be terrible with him, which I'd actually prefer as terrible as that sounds. Or maybe a trade happens. Maybe Daye isn't worth the minutes (which would be disappointing T-Mac or not). Who knows. It's at least a semi-interesting wrinkle for the team.

IMO, this is a no-brainer very smart move. This gives the Pistons a SG/SF veteran two years off of microfracture surgery, which is an injury that takes two years to fully recover from. When healthy he's a dominant scorer in this league.

Now, pretty obviously, the trade watch for Rip and/or Tay goes into full effect. The roster is incredibly gummed up, UNLESS the team starts playing a racehorse BB style - something we ought to be very well suited to with two super fast penetrating point guards and with the depth of this current roster. The problem with that is that our two veteran holdovers, Rip and Tay have resisted playing fast racehorse BB whenever they've been in the lineup. I don't think they fit that style.

Assuming we don't drastically increase the pace of our game, the guy who McGrady most affects on our current roster is Rip - because if McGrady is playing then Rip will get a lot fewer touches. But he also effects the PT of guys we want to see playing and developing. On the other hand, a healthy McGrady makes us a much better team.

In a halfcourt game, McGrady makes us a much bigger . If he's playing SG with Stuckey at PG, we've got one of the biggest most physical guard pairings in the game. McGrady will also open the court for any of the 4 guys playing with him. In a lineup with Monroe and Daye, McGrady could even play PG with Gordon in the lineup. The floor would be spaced like crazy, and frankly, I could see Rip doing beautifully in that "small ball" lineup.

But I think that the move frees up the team to trade Rip or Tay. Now Joe might be much more willing to take back future cap space or draft picks. He might be more willing to not need what he used to perceive as full value back in return if we can trade for a quality big man who can just be a rotation guy for a few years and just pound the boards and protect the rim.